SustainablyWhy It Matters
We are proud to support the towns and regions we serve across North America through various programs aimed at improving the health and well-being of communities. In doing so, we aim to establish a positive presence, contribute to local prosperity and provide our employees with the opportunity to give back to their communities.
$19M
raised by the CP Holiday
Train since 1999
Our Approach
CP supports the communities in which we live, work and operate through donations, partnerships and sponsorship programs. Our giving strategy focuses on health, safety, diversity and inclusion and other well-being issues affecting our employees and the communities along our network. These topics are essential to the rail industry and CP’s business strategy. CP’s long-standing community investment program, CP Has Heart, is focused on improving the heart health of children and adults in North America. We also support organizations and initiatives that advance priorities for women, Black, Indigenous and People of Colour and align with our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Our Community Investment and Workplace Giving team coordinates our giving strategy and regularly measures and reports on the impact of our contributions. Each year, this team receives funding requests from multiple programs and initiatives and collaborates with CP’s departments to ensure that donations are aligned with our giving strategy. CP’s giving strategy is reviewed and approved annually by the Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Technology Transformation.
CP HAS HEART
Heart health is an issue that impacts everyone. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. and Canada. Since 2014, CP Has Heart has focused on building awareness to help adults and children in North America improve heart health. We carry out this mission through several strategic partnerships, sponsorships and corporate giving initiatives throughout the year.
Since 2014, we have partnered with Heart & Stroke, the most prominent alliance in the foundation’s history, which has resulted in $5 million in support of cardiovascular research in Canada to date. CP renewed this innovative research partnership by committing an additional $1.5 million to support cardiovascular research through 2023. We are proud to be a sponsor of Heart & Stroke and the research they are doing to help create longer, healthier futures for Canadians.
CP Has Heart Community Fund
The CP Has Heart Community Fund provides grants of up to $50,000 to organizations that aim to improve the heart health of people in communities throughout North America. Funding is awarded based on criteria outlined by CP Has Heart.
$23.3M
CP has helped raise more than $23.3 million to improve the heart health of adults and children in North America since 2014
SUPPORTING OUR EMPLOYEES’ HEALTH
Our mission to improve the heart health of North American adults and children begins with our own CP family. Maintaining a healthy heart starts with leading a healthy lifestyle. We support and encourage our employees to live a healthy lifestyle through CP’s Employee Health and Wellness Program. Based on five core pillars (mindfulness, nutrition and fitness, healthy choices, financial health, community), this program offers a variety of learning opportunities, benefits, access to professional services and wellness subsidies designed to support the long-term physical and mental health of our employees and their families. For more information on how we encourage employee health, see Workforce Management.
Partnerships with Heart & Stroke and the American Heart Association help CP promote heart health to employees across our network. During Heart Month in February and throughout the year, we raise employee awareness on how to improve heart health and invite registered nurses and emergency medical technicians to our offices to engage with employees and administer blood pressure checks, calculate body mass index measurements and conduct heart-health risk assessments. They also provide demonstrations to employees on the correct procedures for operating an automated external defibrillator.
Community Giving
THE GIVING ENGINE
We empower our employees to give back to the communities where they live, work and play through our employee-matching donation program, the Giving Engine. Employees access the Giving Engine through an online portal, where contributions to any non-religious, non-political registered charity of their choice receive an additional 50 percent funding support from CP (up to $1,500 per year). In alignment with our CP Has Heart program, employee donations made to Heart & Stroke or the American Heart Association through the Giving Engine are matched 100 percent by CP.
Each year, CP employees support their neighbours and communities by donating time to charities and not-for-profit organizations. Additionally, employees and their families donate countless hours through CP’s Mini-Train program to maintain, operate and help share the message of rail safety with people across our network.
CP HOLIDAY TRAIN
CP launched the CP Holiday Train program in 1999. Every year, two festively decorated trains visit more than 160 communities in Canada and the U.S. to raise money, food donations and awareness for local food banks through local concerts and events. Since the program’s inception, 4.8 million pounds of food donations and more than $19 million in corporate donations have been contributed to more than 200 food banks in Canada and the U.S. In 2020, the CP Holiday Train did not operate due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Instead, CP hosted a Holiday Train at Home concert and donated $1.24 million to food banks across Canada in communities that would normally host the CP Holiday Train.
The CP Holiday Train has raised more than $19 million and collected 4.8 million pounds of food since its inaugural journey in 1999.
IN-KIND DONATIONS
In addition to monetary donations, CP’s business of transporting goods across North America supports our in-kind contributions, including rail shipments, use of land, equipment and other rail services. This includes CP’s annual commitment to provide up to $250,000 of in-kind transportation services to food banks in Canada to support their National Food Sharing System.
Our Performance
We track and report on our Sustainability performance annually. View our Community Investment data here.
